Proclamation of Appreciation.

WHEREAS His Holiness Pope John Paul II has continually provided outstanding international leadership in defense of innocent human life, and

WHEREAS he has set forth in his 11th Encyclical, Evangelium Vitae (The Gospel of Life), a challenge to people of all nations, races, and faiths to take steps toward mobilizing a "new culture of life" to counter the disintegrating moral fabric of society as witnessed by permissive legislation which refuses to "punish these practices against life" and by "certain sectors of the medical profession" which "are increasingly willing to carry out these acts against the person," and

WHEREAS the Gospel of Life presents a prophetic and clear message of the importance of a respect for life, stating in part, "Not only is the fact of the destruction of so many human lives still to be born or in the final stage extremely grave and disturbing, but no less disturbing is the fact that conscience itself, darkened as it were by such widespread conditioning, is finding it increasingly difficult to distinguish between good and evil in what concerns the basic value of human life," and

WHEREAS His Holiness has stated clearly that the law cannot give anyone a "right" to destroy innocent human life, saying, "To claim the right to abortion, infanticide and euthanasia, and to recognize that right in law, means to attribute to human freedom a perverse and evil significance: that of an absolute power over others and against others. This is the death of true freedom," and

WHEREAS he has proclaimed the absolute evil of abortion and euthanasia, stating, "I confirm that the direct and voluntary killing of an innocent human being is always gravely immoral," and, "I confirm that euthanasia is a grave violation of the law of God," and

WHEREAS he has expressed deep compassion for women who have experienced ...